The Union Budget announcement of a minimum support price (MSP) that will be 50 per cent more than the cost of production has started a debate on the calculation of cost. Ramesh Chand, member, NITI Aayog, speaks to Sanjeeb Mukherjee on this and related issues.
The Northeastern Regional Agricultural Marketing and Cooperative (NERAMAC) has agreed to purchase cashew nuts directly from cultivators in Tripura.
5G ambulances will not just allow remote consultation, but would also be able to transit data and video to hospitals in real time, saving precious time for critical patients. 5G technology would also support the development of new educational applications, improve agriculture productivity, and aid search and rescue missions with high resolution cameras in disaster recovery zones.
Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, tells Puneet Wadhwa that the US bond market that hit bottom in 1981 and has been in a bull-run since then, is coming to an end.
The provisions exempt farmers from attachment of land up to 2.5 acres and provide for prevention of hoarding and black marketing of agricultural produce.
The current situation offers an opportunity for farmers to reinvest in agriculture.
In 2018, Mr Chouhan became chief minister for the fourth time with some support from Mr Scindia. This time, nothing can be said with any certainty.
Panagariya also stressed that India must continue the liberalisation of its top tariff rates and the country should not revert back to import substitution.
Irregular rainfall and a pick-up in commodity costs are expected to weigh on the demand and margins of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies. Most companies reported a sharp expansion in gross margins in the April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1) of 2023-24 (FY24), given the lower prices of key raw materials and earlier price hikes. Furthermore, there were expectations that cost savings being passed on could reflect in volume growth going forward. However, these hopes could be dashed if demand recovery, especially in the rural segment, stalls, and gains on the raw material front start to recede.
An United Liberation Front of Asom militant was beaten to death and two others were critically injured by a mob on Monday when the trio had allegedly come to extort money from an official of the district Agriculture Marketing Board in Assam.
India has agreed to allow import of pork and pork products from the US as a part of a bilateral trade deal which will facilitate export of Indian mangoes and pomegranate to the US. The development comes months after the two governments renewed the India US Trade Policy Forum (TPF), after which both nations agreed to iron out thorny issues that included market access issues pertaining to the agriculture sector.
After lagging behind other segments in the automotive (auto) space over the past few years, two-wheelers are expected to reverse their volume underperformance. After witnessing a 36.3 per cent volume decline over the 2018-19 (FY19) through 2021-22 (FY22) periods, the sector staged a recovery in 2022-23 (FY23), with volumes rising 17 per cent. While volumes are still a quarter lower than the FY19 peak of 21 million units, a double-digit growth trajectory is expected to prolong.
Between now and the general elections (likely in May 2019) there are 12 assembly polls, which analysts say, in a way will also be interpreted as a referendum on the Modi-led government's key reforms
India has put curbs on wheat exports through the government route, starting November last year. This comes amid a surge in domestic prices of the cereal. In December, India exported 391 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh and Bhutan. In November 2022, it had exported 375 tonnes of wheat only to Bhutan.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday said the country's farm production and procurement increased during 2020-21 crop year despite the pandemic and agricultural exports reached a record level of Rs 3 lakh crore during the same period. In his address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament at the start of the Budget session, Kovind said the government is focusing on making the country self-sufficient in edible oils besides making special efforts to promote organic farming, natural farming and crop diversification. "My government is working continuously to empower the farmers and the rural economy of the country... I would like to give maximum credit to the small farmers of the country for this consistent success and strengthening of the agriculture sector," he said.
'Very few of small investors stay invested for those three or four or five years.' 'If there's like a six month, one-year period when market is not doing well, you exit.' 'After the market has run up, you get in again.' 'This way you will never make returns.'
The GoM has proposed to cap prices of these medicines at the weighted average price of drugs with a minimum of one per cent market share, officials aware of the development said.
Sisi will be the first Egyptian President and the fifth leader from the Middle-East to grace the Republic Day celebrations as the chief guest. He is scheduled to arrive in India on January 24.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after a Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday said that the government has decided to go for open market tender to procure rice, whose process will start from Thursday.
The Left leader said the NCERT, which was set up on the basis of the 2005 National Curriculum Framework, has been demolishing the very goals of the NCF through the removal of such passages from textbooks.
In terms of value, this translates into more than Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) of delivered quantity.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, M&M, Bajaj Auto, HUL, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, ITC, HDFC and L&T, rising up to 7.51 per cent.
The minister said this underlying resentment and pain of those countries regarding the global economy was building up for the last 15-20 years and the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine conflict resulted in prices of energy and food items going up.
The Opposition is also expected to target the Eknath Shinde-led government on shifting of mega projects like Foxconn to Gujarat, according to political observers.
The 15 ministers were sworn in on Sunday for the expanded Gehlot cabinet, fulfilling a key demand of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot whose rebellion last year shook the state's Congress government.
The government and the farm unions had reached some common ground on Wednesday to resolve the protesting farmers' concerns over rise in power tariff and penalties for stubble burning, but the two sides remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for MSP.
In a meeting with the President on behalf of these 18 non-National Democratic Alliance parties, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said he has requested the President to return the bills, and only give his assent after they have been passed after following proper rules and procedures.
With a multi-tier supply chain, consumers pay up to 300% more than wholesale prices for agricultural commodities.
The proposal, which comes in response to the EU-US formula made on the sidelines of the OECD meeting in Paris recently, emphasises on differentiated tariff cuts for developing countries.
'Crony capitalism will gain due to these Acts.'
The minister, in an eight-page open letter to farmers, said the Modi-government was committed to their welfare and stressed that the new legislations were aimed at benefitting small and marginal farmers.
The Maharashtra government will amend its agriculture law to protect farmers and Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) as the three central farm laws are not in the interest of agriculturists, state Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said.
Fearing likely shortage, the government on Thursday said it has made an advance plan to import about 10 lakh tonne higher quality of tur dal via private trade this year to meet the domestic requirement. The issue was discussed in a high-level meeting called by the cabinet secretary to review the prices of essential commodities, especially pulses and onions. Tur production is pegged lower at 3.89 million tonne in the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) from 4.34 million tonne in the previous year as per the initial projection made by the agriculture ministry. Tur is a kharif crop.
WTO chief Pascal Lamy has asked India to give increased market access for agricultural products and contribute toward advancement of the contentious Doha Round of global trade talks.
BRS spokesperson Sravan Dasoju, speaking to PTI, expressed confidence KCR would win from both the constituencies with a thumping majority.
'The answer for a quicker boost to growth is simple -- run a much larger deficit, use the resulting public resources to ensure adequate price support for agriculture, subsidise wage costs of MSMEs and accelerate public sector construction-intensive activities,' advises Nitin Desai.
As per the NCERT, the decision has been taken to reduce the content load on students in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The formula for success of farm economy is very simple -- farmers should be able to produce more from the same piece of land at reduced cost while minimising risk and be connected to market to get higher realisation for their produce, points out Siraj Chaudhry.
The interim free trade agreement between India and Australia will come into force on Thursday, providing duty-free access to thousands of domestic goods such as textiles, and leather in the Australian market. The agreement will help almost double the bilateral commerce to $45-50 billion in around five years, according to exporters and industry players. The Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), which was signed on April 2, would provide duty-free access to Indian exporters of over 6,000 broad sectors, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery and machinery in the Australian market.
